Survey Explores Women Buyers' Research Habits, Emotional Impact of Purchase Process
October 19, 2011 | BELMONT, Calif.
By Auto Remarketing Staff
Media network and publisher for women BlogHer Inc., announced Monday the results of a survey that delved into how women feel and where they turn for advice while buying a car.
The company explained that the survey results — which were revealed at the J.D. Power & Associates 2011 Automotive Internet Roundtable in Las Vegas — showed the growing role played by social media and blogs in the automotive purchasing decision-making process and the influence of these sources, verses traditional media and industry information sources.
The study titled, “Put Her in the Driver’s Seat,” revealed a positive impact on female buyers who used blogs and social media for car reasearch and also showed a preference for blogs and official product information sources versus traditional media and social networks among women.
"Women clearly articulated the features they need to see and the voices they want to hear when considering a car purchase," said Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder and chief executive officer of BlogHer.
"We see a huge opportunity for auto manufacturers to indeed 'Put her in the driver's seat' and let her buying preferences re-shape how the automotive community reaches the powerful women's market,” she continued.
So where do women search for advice and information before buying a new car?
The study showed that women are still drawn to the physical dealership.
The study revealed the top five information sources for women were dealership visits (65 percent), word of mouth (56 percent), car review websites (53 percent), auto manufacturer websites (43 percent) and blogs (31 percent).
Interestingly, Facebook notched a chunk of the survey sample, with 17 percent of women turning to the social media site for vehicle research.
Moreover, auto magazines took 21 percent and TV advertising notched only 16 percent.
Also, of the top five information sources, four of those were also ranked the most influential on a woman’s car buying decision.
Again, dealership visits made it onto the list. Word of mouth, car review sites and blogs also proved influential.
On the other hand, for women, auto manufacturer websites “ranked dead last in influence on their ultimate decision,” officials noted.
Besides studying the outlets women utilize for vehicle research, the study also explored how women feel when they are buying a car and how things like social media and blogs affect their emotions.
Delving into the emotional impact of car-buying among women, the study revealed that women car buyers were more excited (74 percent), yet more nervous (53 percent) about their car purchase than men.
Of these women, those who consulted blogs and social networks during the car buying process demonstrated higher excitement levels, according to the study.
In more detail, women who consulted blogs before buying a new car were 13 percentage points more excited than women who did not, and women who consulted social networks were up 12 percentage points.
The study also showed that confidence levels might have a direct correlation with social media and blog use; confidence among women who used blogs for auto advice was 8 percentage points over women who did not and 5 percentage points up among women who used social networks.
However, the online tools didn’t seem to have much of an effect on stress levels among female car buyers.
The stress levels remained the same for women who used social networks, when compared to those who had not.
Social network users even showed an increase in levels of nervousness, at 4 percentage points higher than the total sample.
Blogs seemed to have a bit more of a calming effect on women car-buyer’s nerves. The stress levels of women who used blogs for advice were 4 percentage points lower than the total sample, and blog users also reported being slightly less nervous at 2 percentage points lower than the total sample.
Highlighting how the study was conducted, BlogHer explain it fielded the survey across two populations: U.S. online general population in seven markets and 26 million BlogHer network users. The total sample size was 1,467, with a total of 1,090 women and 377 men across the United States. All portions of the study were conducted this past August.
BlogHer’s most recent study explores how women use social media to help make decisions during the car purchasing cycle.
Methodology
In order to have a robust sample, the survey was fielded across two different populations online:
· The BlogHer network (26 million women)
· Total U.S. Online in 7 markets (Atlanta, Boston, NY, Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, Portland)
· 1,090 total women aged 18-76
· 377 total men aged 18-76
Social Media helps improve women’s emotional response while car shopping
We asked both men and women to describe their range of emotions while going through the automotive purchasing cycle. Both genders listed “excited” as the primary emotion with men at 71% and women at 74%. Women were also more nervous (53%) during the process than men (42%) and less confident (30%) than men (37%).
However, when we filtered the same question results through those who had used either blogs or social networks to help with car information prior to purchase, the results were dramatically different. Those women who used blogs for auto advice had their excitement level increase by +13%, while confidence for the blog users went up by a delta of +8 percentage points. At the same time “nervous” and “stressed out” levels decreased somewhat among Blog users. Women who used social networks for auto advice also had increased excitement and confidence levels.
Resources for informing and influencing automotive purchases for women
Visits to a car dealer and word-of-mouth advice still top the list when it comes to women gathering information to help with a car purchase. Auto manufacture sites and blog review sites both rank in the middle of the list for car purchase research. Traditional media such as TV (15.5%) and new media favorite Facebook (16.5%) were both at the bottom of the list as resources for automotive information prior to a purchase.
Top 10 Resources for Car Research and Information:
When we asked women to rank the resources above according to which ones they considered the most influential, the results were quite different for a few of the entities. Visit to a car dealer, word-of-mouth and car review sites still topped the influence list. However auto manufacturer’s site dropped from 4th to last place, while blogs, mobile and Twitter all moved up the list in ranking. Personal and interactive types of media have higher levels of trust and influence among women than corporate or brand websites.
Top 10 Resources for Influence:
Going Green Gets Higher Interest From Younger Women
Hybrid vehicles get the highest scores as the preferred type of environmentally friendly car for all women. However among women 18-27, all types of “green” cars have a higher level of consideration. Almost 40% of the younger women would consider an electric car, and less than 10% showed no interest at all in the “green” car category.
Key Takeaways for Automotive Manufacturers
· Social Media helps women get excited to buy a new car; blogs help calm her nerves and increase her confidence.
· Women still come to you: Your site, your dealership. Shape their experiences there
· Bring them real user experiences: On your site and on theirs.
o Be an aggregation point for women’s voices
o Participate and become a part of a woman’s social graph
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